Approaching scientific problems takes both a macro and micro perspective in order to arrive at the results with repeatable and verifiable certainty. As more human activities are absorbed by automation, AI and machine learning, we must focus on our strengths – human intuition. Intuition is guided by mental processes in our reptilian brain that are as of yet not fully understood – and may never be. By taking advantage of sound reason, hard work and human intuition humans are able to see the larger picture – or the forest as it were.

Even in these earlier years of advanced compute power, with algorithms branched enough that even the designers have difficulty tracing back to the final decision point, we must realize people should always be the final arbitrators. Computers cannot see the forest, and we need to remain humble enough to know this is not their place when it comes to higher level decision making – on any stage. It may be tempting to allow higher level business decisions to be made by computers when computers can beat Grand Masters in chess, yet it is precisely when a Grand Master uses intuition that (s)he stands a chance against these formidable foes.

In science there is this highly evolved blood-brain barrier which selectively allows some molecules to pass to the brain, yet other molecules and micro-organisms to be stopped – of equal size and disguise – it’s an amazingly adaptive system and one in which our future technology models need to somehow incorporate within these highly complex algorithms that will be running more and more of our world, allowing for the ultimate decision loop to insert itself – the human.

The rapidly merging fields of science and technology will allow scientists to discover and even remedy, may I say reverse, some of man’s ecological footprint and provide hope for future generations here on Earth.

Science, especially in the areas of biology, medicine and genetics, holds great hope for mankind as its history has already shown. But challenges of a growing worldwide population will require new discoveries from new contributors to meet present and future sustainability conditions.

Our planet is one large ecosystem that scientists have yet to fully understand how all its elements interrelate and affect one another. Will the use of one chemical or base DNA alteration induce higher crop yields or resistance to microorganisms affect future species that may be essential in a bio-lifecycle we are all dependent upon? How many pieces of our planet’s chemistry storeroom are we allowed to play with without putting back before we see a point of no return? Is automation and the replacement of human labor the most sustainable formula moving forward, or will we find out that the net carbon footprint of human labor is lower than machine automation long term?

Powerful super-computers today with equally intelligent software code will aid in simulations before scientists pull the lever on real experiments – thus predicting outcomes with more accuracy and speed than has ever been accomplished. So there is hope, as natural resources become more limited, science will be able to create a buffer to extend the goal line, but what drives all decisions to do the experiments and to use the powerful tools is people. People must explore on their own what it means to all coexist fairly and equitably amongst each other and the environment, as helping your brother or sister is really helping yourself, your progeny and mankind in the long term.

The advent of the Internet along with the rather recent ascent of mobility devices and services have ushered in a new era in business and domestic life – one that will accelerate even faster over the coming years. Those companies that take the long term view, as in many tech start-ups with little chance of making a profit for years, have an advantage over legacy approaches to starting a business today – a fact a bit maddening to traditionalist financial experts.

Being the first in your market, or creating a new market provides obvious perils but distinct advantages over would-be competitors as any business school professor will tell you – first in line has advantages.

Yet businesses in nascent and mainstream business lines can only advance as quickly as its life-blood advances – its people. Much has been made of recent changes to the common core curriculum in our education system and the implementation of STEM classes – Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. This is the foundation for all future employees, but not at the demise of liberal arts. A well rounded and technologically sound workforce in America is needed, but future jobs may rely much more heavily on students that have historical perspectives derived from humanities. Many current day decisions taking place now with people will be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms. The old saying that technology doesn’t replace human jobs, it just raises the bar for that human job, is valid. More and more of routine and even higher education level decisions will be made by ‘systems’ and therefore reliance on STEM only educated people will be superfluous. A solid foundation in liberal arts may be the higher road to oversee our systems.

Doctors and lawyers each have lower functioning duties they perform that are being replaced now by systems, a good indication your job may be vulnerable at some point as well. But technology shouldn’t scare us; it should make the future look exciting for most of us. It will allow most of us to eliminate the dull and routine tasks that we all find part of our day now and move onto more important tasks that are not suited well for computers to do – such as make nuanced decisions that would just take too large of an algorithm to be developed for – if one can.

Is shop floor automation really better for the earth – is it really more sustainable than human labor? We may find that there needs to be a balance between automation and human labor – when both solutions exist. If one were to count the carbon footprint of automation in its totality against the carbon footprint of human labor in its totality…well, there could be some interesting findings here. There’s a thesis or dissertation in there somewhere, if it hasn’t been written already.

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About berniegollwitzer.com LLC

Science Technologist with professional experience in education and business environments and a strong foundational understanding in the real sciences (biology, chemistry, physics, genetics) coupled with over a decade of selling technology products and services to a wide variety of businesses in the enterprise, mid-market and SMB sectors.